The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Generally forceps may be utilized for laparoscopic surgery. The forceps may be employed to control delicate movements inside a patient and may include a gripping assembly or a cutting assembly. Further, the forceps may utilize electrical energy in the gripping assembly. Typically, the forceps have a pair of opposed resilient jaws that are closed against each other by pulling the jaws into a distal end of a shaft that captures a portion of the jaws that is wider than the distal end opening of the shaft so that the jaws are moved together. Similarly the shaft may be pushed over the jaws so that the jaws are moved together to create a gripping force. In both of these arrangements, the shaft captures the jaws and acts as a cam that forces the jaws together to create the gripping force.
Current bipolar electrosurgical sealing forceps employ a pair of jaws with RF energy to coagulate a vessel and further employ a moveable cutting blade to cut the sealed vessel after coagulation. Conventional vessel sealing procedures generally involve cutting the blood vessels after sealing them. Typically, the vessels connecting the portion of an organ being resected is cut to enable a surgeon to remove the organ from the patient's body. As such, one portion of the cut vessel remains attached to the patient's vascular system, and the other portion of the cut vessel is removed with the organ. After the vessel is sealed and cut, the patient-side of the vessel has to withstand higher blood pressures, and the resected portion of the vessel only has to prevent incidental leakage from the resected organ. Generally, however, vessel sealing devices apply electrosurgical sealing energy equally to both portions of the vessel.
Accordingly, there is a need for a vessel sealing device that provides a better seal on the patient-side of the vessel.